Justin Trudeau Excludes Black Males From Canada's Senate

After the retirement of Senator Donald Oliver; and following the resignation of Senator Don Meredith there are no longer any black male Canadian Senate, and it appears that the Independent Advisory Committee is seeking to keep it that way. Highly qualified black men who have submitted their candidacy are being overlooked. According to Government officials who preside over the selection process, the Senate apparently has a sufficient quota of what the Privy Council Office (PCO) refers to as "minorities", and black men seeking to be appointed are apparently just out of luck.

When former Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed Don Meredith in 2010 and when Brian Mulroney had appointed Donald Oliver in 1990, both Prime Ministers recognized the anti-black male racism that exists making it a constituency in need of vital representation in the Upper Chamber.

Ontario's Stephen Lewis Commission had recognized black males as being disproportionately subjected to disenfranchisement in our criminal justice system and face hardships which are not a part of the experiences of black females.

I had met Senator Oliver before he had retired and he was deeply sympathetic to the plight of black males in this country.

Ontario's Stephen Lewis' Report specifically confirmed an "anti-black male" bias which has come under public scrutiny with racial profiling.

The Hon Stephen Lewis' report has firmly acknowledged that the historical and ongoing plight of black Canadians cannot simply be lumped into "minority groups" as the PCO has sought to do.

I would ask the Privy Council and the Advisory Committee not to use the prejudicial term like "minority groups" in a manner similar to the way in which "coloureds" were used in apartheid South Africa.

I'm a black Canadian born in this country -- not a "minority group".

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also acknowledged the unique plight of black Canadians during Black History Month. But just days after he made further appointment to the Senate with no black males among them in his continued ignoring of highly qualified black make candidates.

Numerous government reports have furthermore cited the unique oppression face by black males in this country.

So, how are we as black Canadians in this country supposed regard no black males to have been appointed under this Prime Minister when previous Prime Minister appointed black males to the Upper Chamber?

Indeed, are there any black males among the membership of the Senate's Advisory Committee?

In fact, I have never met or met any black males among the upper echelon of the PCO.

So, on the one hand we're getting a black person on the new $10, while black males are being excluded from the Senate?

It is possible that your Advisory Committee is practicing the same "unconscious bias" against black males which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had criticized during Black History Month

Black males have been in this country since 1608 as slaves and the oversight on black males in this country has the appearance both of hypocrisy and systemic racism that has been practiced in this country since the seventeenth century.